Germany Offers Aid to Soviet Republics

September 25, 1991

GERMANY will give the Soviet Union 7,000 trucks from the former East German Army to help ease its transportation problems, German Finance Minister Theo Waigel said.Mr. Waigel, on a three-day visit to the Soviet Union, told reporters the German government wanted to give trucks from remaining East German Army stocks to Moscow and some republics. Germany will give the Ukraine 800 trucks and send medical aid, he said after meeting Ukrainian Premier Vitold Fokin in Kiev Sept. 23. The Ukraine needs animal fodder and soybeans to help solve pressing supply problems for the coming winter, he told reporters while flying to Alma Ata in Kazakhstan, where he met the republic's President Nursultan Nazarbayev. Waigel said that Mr. Fokin said the Ukraine wanted to play a constructive role in forming the new Soviet Union and would take responsibility for some Soviet debts. He did not elaborate.